1. Behold, a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord you
SUNDAYS IN CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
SERMON 9: THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
1. Behold, a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord you can heal me if you wish. Matthew 8: 2.
[Protheme] The little ones asked for bread, and there was no one to break it for them. Lamentations 4:4. Due to the first transgression, the human person is miserable and weeps continually over humanity's threefold affliction: of weakness and the inability to act, because we were separated from the highest majesty; of necessity and lack of progress, because we were separated from the highest good; of cruelty and hardness of affection, because we were separated from the highest piety. And therefore in the proposed words from the second passage, which are read from Lamentations 4 of Jeremiah, the threefold state of affliction is observed, namely, of impotence and weakness of action, when it states: Little ones, meaning the weak and the impotent; of indigency and need of progress, where asked for bread follows: indeed every petition presupposes the need and indigency of the one asking; of hardness and cruelty of affection, when it adds: and there was no one to break it for them. Wishing to offer something useful to the present congregation, let us first direct our minds by petitioning the merciful and principal font, so he would remove weakness and impotence from our action through strength; remove necessity and indigence from our progress through openness; and remove cruelty and hardness from our affection through rectitude; and thus fortified in action, opened to progress, and rectified in affection, we are able to say something to
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the praise and glory of his name, and the consolation of our souls. Amen.
[Sermon] 2. Behold, a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord you can heal me if you wish. Since "every action of Christ is for our instruction," the healing today of the external leprosy that deforms bodily beauty is a teaching and a symbol concerning the interior leprosy that disfigures spiritual beauty. The proposed passage with the metaphor of the leper cured by God describes, for our instruction, the condition of the sinner according to the state of the perpetrated transgression that deformed the soul, the act of subordination preparing the soul, and affection of prayer raising the soul. First, in the proposed passage the deformation of the transgression committed is noted, when it says: Behold a leper came; second, the display of the required subordination, adding: to adore him, saying; third, the petition of a specific supplication, when it includes: Lord, you can heal me if you wish. He was quite specific in petitioning; for he did not say: come down,' or: come, as if his presence would be absent from some other place, or: speak;'® as if his power was related to pronouncing words; instead he said: if you wish, knowing well Psalm 115:3: Whatever the Lord wished, he did.
3. First then, in the proposed passage the condition of the sinner is noted according to the state of the perpetrated transgression that deformed the soul, when it says: Behold, a leper. A sinner is understood well with the name leper,'*' for just as the disease of leprosy as158 See Sermon 3 n. 11 above.
159 See John 4:49.
160 See Luke 7:7.
61 See Homily 8 of Remigius Antissiodorensis in PL 131:911D912A: "In the moral sense this leprosy fittingly designates the sinner, for what are sins if not leprosy?"
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similates the one generated to the one who generates, deforms corporal beauty, and divides the common dwelling place, so too sin, when multiplied to the maximum, does these three things in the soul." For first, the sin of pride and ambition assimilates the soul to paternal malignity; second, the sin of lasciviousness and fornication deforms the natural beauty of the soul; third, the sin of avarice and acquisitiveness separates the soul from the common dwelling place, that is, paradise. Whence the sin of pride must be hated because it assimilates one to the malignity; the sin of lasciviousness must be abhorred because it induces filth; and the sin of avarice must be fled because it causes a separation from God.
4. First, the sin of pride and ambition, like leprosy, assimilates the soul to paternal malignity. Whence 2 Chronicles 26:16-19: His heart was lifted up to his destruction and he neglected the Lord his God, ... Leprosy immediately arose on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord. This Uzziah is proud and elated in heart, given over to the destruction of eternal death, because he neglected God Almighty, imitating diabolical perversity in all things. And so therefore, just as signs of pride appeared spiritually on the forehead of the devil in front of the good angels who were resisting him in the empyrean heaven, so also on the forehead of Uzziah, who imitated paternal malignity, leprosy arose as a sign of pride, since he was raised up and infected in soul in front of the priests who were resisting him in the house of the Lord.
5. Second, the sin of lasciviousness and fornication, like leprosy, deforms the natural beauty of the soul. Whence
Leviticus 13:45 says: Contaminated and filthy, he will cry out at all times that he is a leper. It is right that a person
162 See Sermon 3 n. 11 above.
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infected with the vice of lasciviousness declare oneself contaminated and filthy, because inasmuch as one is dirtied and contaminated from unclean affections, inordinate activities and illicit works, it becomes far more abominable for angelic spirits to gaze upon the person than for healthy people to regard a leper. The beauty of the Holy
Spirit will not dwell at anytime in the body subject to the sin of lasciviousness. Certainly beyond all else we must strive to acquire this beauty of purity and chastity, since through it we provoke the Holy Spirit to love and desire us. With every effort, therefore, we must remove from us inordinate desires and impure thoughts, because just as when many corrupt fluids abound in the body, they generate a certain scab, skin disease and occasionally leprosy, which takes away the purity of the body; so also, inordinate affections, unclean thoughts, and corrupt activities generate the scab of incontinence, the leprosy of lasciviousness, and take away the cleanliness of chastity and modesty. And because of this the body is made into a filthy dwelling of the devil, not of the Holy Spirit.
6. Third, the sin of avarice and acquisitiveness, like leprosy, separates the soul from the common dwelling place of paradise. Whence 2 Kings 5:27 says: The leprosy of Naaman will also cling to you and your seed forever.
And he went out from him a leper. Since the ardor of avarice agitates and incites this Gehasi and any leper to accept temporal goods, it therefore says that leper Naaman, who is interpreted as one who incites or agitation,!® will cling to him and even to whomsoever imitates him; and just as the leper is expelled from the common dwelling of healthy people, so too the avaricious person who chooses an earthly dwelling with the mole and, fixing the eyes of "6 See CCSL Ixxii, 117: "Naaman means beauty or their agitation."
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concupiscence downward toward the ground,' deprives himself of the common dwelling of the saints. Whence the leper is said to have departed from Elisha, which is the fellowship of holy men, whose dwelling and association is in heaven,'® through desire, with the angels.
7. It follows: he adored him, saying, where the show of required subjection is noted because, by adoring, he shows the worship of divine latria. He showed Christ the worship of divine latria or adored him, first with humble fear and reverence in the heart because of creative power; second, with the expression of honor and magnificence in the mouth because of governing wisdom; third, with the display of love and benevolence in works because of redeeming and glorifying clemency. And so by reason of these three properties the worship of latria is due to God alone and no other.
8. First, therefore, he adored him with humble fear and reverence in the heart because of creative power.
Whence Psalm 5:8 states: I will adore you with fear in your holy temple. No one, I say, is able to adore God perfectly, unless a person has the greatest reverence for the divine majesty. Who is able to gaze interiorly upon the highest good in the majesty of the Lord and the severity of judgment when sinking back into one's own perversity?
We learn here, then, to admire Christ and tremble before virtuous power, if we want to arouse beautiful wisdom to love and desire us. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,'© since it prepares and beautifies the mouth of the heart for the kiss of divine wisdom.
164 See Ps 16:11: "They have set their eyes bowing down to the ground."
165 See Phil 3:20.
166 See Prov 1:7.
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9. Second, he adored him with the expression of honor and magnificence in the mouth because of governing wisdom. Whence Psalm 137:1 says: I will sing praise to you in the presence of the angels, I will adore in-your holy temple.
Now a person praises God in the presence of the angels and not in the presence of worldly people when one gives praise neither for the sake of vain glory nor for temporal gain, but only to praise and glorify the Creator with purity and right intention. I will adore in your holy temple.
The holy temple of God is a clean and immaculate body in which the soul adores God and confesses his name. Its gates are the five senses, which must be kept with all diligence, lest the death of filthy sin enter through them, because just as a king is not pleased by wine drawn from an impure vase through a superficially beautiful opening, so also Christ is not pleased by praise issuing from an impure heart through a superficially devout mouth.
10. Third, he adored him with the display of love and benevolence in works because of redeeming and glorifying clemency. Whence Matthew 2:10-11 says of the Magi:
When they saw the star they greatly rejoiced. Entering the house they found the child with Mary his mother and falling down, they adored him; and opening their treasures they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
See that the Magi possessed the fervor of love and benevolence in the exhibition of latria in worship, because they did not give out of cupidity, but by a spontaneous choice they offered to the small child as a sign of love and benevolence, not of fear and punishment. This is indeed charity or love without which no good is accepted. This indeed renders the will cheerful in regard to itself, whence it says: They greatly rejoiced; concord in regard to the neighbor, whence it follows: entering the house; freedom in regard to what is given; whence it adds: opening their
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treasures they offered him gifts, in a sign expressing interior faith.
11. Third, the specific petition of the supplicant is added when it says: Lord you can heal me if you wish.
Certainly this leper was specific when petitioning for the cleansing of his body since he informs any other person, who is infected by spiritual leprosy, how to petition by example for the sanctification of one's own soul. Whence whoever is infected by some kind of previously mentioned leprosy must petition specifically, according to the disease, for a specific medication. For the proud person must petition to be cleansed from the tumor of pride by the love of filial reverence, the lustful person from the filth of lasciviousness by the decorum or odor of chastity and purity, the avaricious person from the ardor of avarice by the sweetness of spiritual joy. This is so the soul that is disordered and turned away from the Father by the tumor or pride, from the Son by the filth of lasciviousness, and from the Holy Spirit by the ardor of avarice, might be ordered to Father by the fear of filial reverence, to the Son by the radiance or odor of chastity and innocence, and to the Holy Spirit by the sweetness of spiritual joy.
12. First, therefore, we are cleansed from the tumor of pride by the fear of filial reverence. Whence 2 Corinthians 7:1: Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctity in the fear of the Lord. Just as the filth of lasciviousness is a defilement of the body, so too is the tumor of pride a defilement to the spirit; whence first it speaks of corporal sin, and second of spiritual sin. And because a person who cleanses the body from the defilement of lasciviousness through the love of chastity and purity is not pleasing to God, unless one cleanses the spirit from the defilement of pride through the love of filial reverence. The Apostle therefore
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says: Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the flesh and spirit. Unless the fear of the Lord precedes, accompanies, and follows after our cleansing we are never able to perfect sanctity because the one-without fear will not be justified;!*' thus it follows: perfecting sanctity in the fear of the Lord.
13. Second, we are cleansed from the filth of lasciviousness by the decorum or odor of chastity and purity.
2 Timothy 2:21-22 states: If anyone has cleansed oneself from these, the person will.be a vessel sanctified in honor and useful to the Lord ready for every good work. But flee youthful desires. If anyone therefore will have cleansed oneself from these defilements of lasciviousness through bitter contrition and penance, the person will be a vessel sanctified in honor through the beauty of celestial grace or chastity and purity; and useful to the Lord for every work by pleasing the divine will. The sordid and impure vessel is neither pleasing to Christ, the most noble of kings, nor acceptable in ministerial work. Flee youthful desires; it does not say: resist but: flee because it is better to overcome the vice of lasciviousness by fleeing than by resisting.
14. Third, we are cleansed from the ardor of avarice by the sweetness of spiritual joy. Whence Ezekiel 36:25 says: I will pour out upon you clean water, and you will be cleansed from all your defilements and from all your idols.
Indeed the mind of the avaricious agitates for various riches and burns with worldly affections; it is unable to rest throughout the day because of useless distractions, or at night because of various thoughts. Therefore, the Lord says: I will pour out upon you, who are brought low by worldly things, clean water, that is, the grace of the Holy
*67 See Sir 1:28: "The one without fear cannot be justified."
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Spirit to cool the ardors of avarice, whose taste refreshes the ardent soul with greater sweetness than worldly affections, such that it despises every appetite for worldly ardors; and you will be cleansed from all your defilements and from all your idols. It is said that every iniquity is a sin of avarice because cupidity is the root of all evil;'* nonetheless, it is also referred to with the name idols, because according to the Apostle, avarice is the servitude of idols.'®° Because of this, the Lord gave good counsel in Luke 11:41: Nevertheless give what remains as alms, and behold, all things are clean for you. Let us ask the Lord, therefore, etc.
168 See 1 Tim 6:10.
169 See Eph 5:5: "... no fornicator or unclean person or avaricious person (which is servitude of idols) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."